Help from Above: NASA Aids Kilauea Disaster Response

On May 3, the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island
erupted from new fissures and sent lava flowing over streets and neighborhoods.
As the disaster response on the ground led by the U.S. Geological Survey kicked
into gear, managers from NASA's Earth Science Disasters Program heard from
response agencies and sent out a call to NASA's own researchers, data managers,
and satellite teams: What can we do to help?

With an array of sophisticated Earth-observing sensors in
orbit and partnerships with space agencies around the globe, NASA had a lot of
assets to offer.

"One of the first things emergency responders wanted to
know was where the lava was coming out, where are all the fissures," said J.
Carver Struve, NASA emergency management co-lead at NASA Headquarters in
Washington, who coordinates the organization and distribution of data and
satellite imagery from seven NASA centers.

In total, seven instruments on board five NASA and partner
satellites provided key information on eruption patterns and atmospheric
impacts of the Kilauea eruption. These included detection of active fissures,
fires, ash and sulfur dioxide plumes, deformation of the ground caused by magma
movement, and the height and composition of volcanic plumes. Even astronauts on
board the International Space Station were able to view the eruption, sending
digital camera images to the USGS and response community. The European Space
Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency also contributed data to the
effort.

Feedback from responders in Hawaii using the data has led
to the creation of additional data products tailored to their immediate needs.
"We're providing actionable scientific products to teams on the ground to
support response activities and fill any gaps they may have in their
information as the disaster is evolving," said Struve.

The Disasters Program data products and images are
available at these sites:

In addition to providing data to support recovery and
resilience planning, NASA has a long-standing research effort to understand
volcanic processes before, during and after eruptions, insights that can also
serve as a window into understanding volcanoes on other planets. The current
Kilauea eruption is an opportunity to evaluate the performance of instruments
to estimate lava flow rates and volume, crucial parameters in volcanic models.

NASA is contributing to the understanding of the eruption
using airborne assets. The G-III research aircraft is flying an all-weather,
high-resolution instrument called the Glacier and Ice Surface Topography
Interferometer (GLISTIN) that was developed to study small changes in ice
sheets. The science team, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, previously used GLISTIN to study the surface topography
of Kilauea's East Rift Zone.

A sequence of repeat flights during the current eruption
are using GLISTIN to detect changes in Kilauea's topography associated with the
new lava flows, with the goal of measuring the erupted volume as a function of
time and ultimately the total volume of the event. Such observations are
extremely useful to quantitatively evaluate models for evolution of volcanic
processes.